SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/10/2015
12:24 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Forth Bowl Judgment
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
16:8-9
Message of the
verses: “8 The fourth angel poured
out his bowl upon the sun,
and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. 9 Men were scorched with fierce
heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues,
and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.”
Once again I wish to copy and paste what I have already
written back in September of 2015 when I studied Revelation then, and I must
say that what I put here will be similar to what I will be learning again when
I look at the commentary from John MacArthur.
This section of Revelation 16 is very interesting to look at and to
study. “The earth will really be in bad
shape because of all of the previous judgments, and now comes this forth vial
judgment when the angel pours out his vial upon the sun so that the sun will be
very hot, hotter that it was before, so hot that it will scorch men with
fire. Again there is no repentance from
the sin that these people have committed, and not only do they not repent, but
they blaspheme the name of God who has the power over these plagues.
“From my study of these verses there are a couple of OT
passages that may fit with these verses.
The first one is from Amos, and there has to be made an assumption here
for this to fit in, and that assumption is that because of this great heat that
comes from the sun because of this judgment that the polar ice will begin to
melt causing the oceans to rise, and some have said that it could be as much as
200 feet which will cover much of the costal lands. Amos 9:5-6 “The Lord
GOD of hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, And all who dwell there
mourn; All of it shall swell like the River, And subside like the River of
Egypt. 6
He who builds His layers in the sky, And has founded His strata in the
earth; Who calls for the waters of the sea, And pours them out on the face of
the earth—The LORD is His name.”
“"For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all
the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will
set them ablaze," says the LORD of hosts, "so that it will leave them
neither root nor branch." (Mal. 4:1) This
verse seems to describe what this judgment will do. It could be that some who know the Bible
somewhat at that time may get this mixed up with 2Peter 3:10, but that verse
has to do with how God will completely destroy the earth at the end of the 1000
year reign of Jesus Christ, and then the new heaven and the new earth and the
new Jerusalem will be created by God for His saints to live.”
Now
as we have seen the first three bowls have been poured out upon the earth, and
bowl number four is poured out on the sun, but will drastically affect what
will happen upon the earth. Let us go
back to the book of Genesis and look at the creation of the sun, and since that
time the sun has been there to give light, warmth, and energy, but now it
becomes a deadly killer. God said after
each creation day “it is good” and it was good when he created the sun, but now
because of what happened in the third chapter of Genesis when sin entered the
human race things that once were good can become bad because of sin. “ 14 Then
God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate
the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days
and years; 15 and let them be for lights
in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. 16
God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the
lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17 God placed them in
the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to govern the day
and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it
was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.” Now I cannot say if the significance of
having the sun created on the fourth day has anything to do with this fourth
judgment being on the sun, but to say the least it is interesting.
We
can turn and look at the book of Isaiah to see this verse: “4 The earth mourns and withers, the world
fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. 5 The
earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated
statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a curse devours the
earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of
the earth are burned, and
few men are left (Isaiah 24:4-6).”
We
have already mentioned that when the people see these judgments, and especially
this one that they blame God but do not repent of their sins, for it is because
of sinful man that these judgments are now coming upon the earth. We have already been in the book of Genesis,
the book of beginnings and have looked at the creation of the sun and the moon
and then God saying that it was good, and have mentioned that sin causes good
things to become bad, but sin also causes people to play the blame game as they
blame their problems that sinfulness causes on God or on others. That is what these people are doing here,
blaming God, but as James says they should look into a mirror to find out where
the problem lies. Genesis is the book of
beginnings and Revelation closes things out as far as this earth is concerned. We have mentioned many times that in our
study of the book of Revelation from chapters 6-19 that God is taking back
control of planet earth as He will judge sinful men, the Devil, the Antichrist,
and the false prophet and then set His Son on His throne in Jerusalem. This fourth bowl judgment is a part of that
process that we can see began in 15:1 which reads “Then I saw another sign in
heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the
last, because in them the
wrath of God is finished.”
I
want to quote a few verses from the second chapter of Paul’s letter to the
Romans, remembering that in the latter part of chapter one Paul writes about
the sinfulness of men, and that is why the word “therefore” begins chapter two
as he goes back to what he had just written at the end of chapter one. “1 Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of
you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for
you who judge practice the same things. 2 And we know that the judgment of God
rightly falls upon those who practice such things. 3 But do you suppose this, O
man, when you pass
judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you
will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and
patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” Here we have the story of those who are
blaming God for this fourth bowl judgment, and in verse four we also have the
story of those who understand their sinfulness, and have repented of it to God
and are now saved, and for those who do this before the Tribulation period they
will be a part of those that Jesus talks about to the church in Philadelphia
where He says “’Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the
hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test
those who dwell on the earth.”
The choice is yours!
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is my job, and the job of all believers to
pass the truths of the book of Revelation on to those that God brings into our
paths, who are willing to listen to it.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To love the Lord with all of my heart, soul,
mind and strength, and to live in His love.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Michael and Gabriel”
(Revelation 12:7, Luke 1:19).
Today’s Bible
question: “How long was the famine to
last after Joseph revealed himself to his brothers?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/10/2015 1:01 PM
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